Carlow 0-14 Louth 0-13:SO, THE day finally arrived when Carlow footballers decided to end the suffering. Afterwards the loyal few who followed them to Portlaoise invaded the pitch and flocked around the 6ft 5in beacon that is Brendan Murphy.
All successful teams must tap into a collective endeavour, but the heroics of one individual is what separated Carlow from Louth down yesterday’s thrilling home straight.
The Louth story of these past 12 months is accepted as sporting tragedy, but they were outfought here and, despite erasing Carlow’s electric opening 35-minute display, it was a dramatic late contribution from Murphy that provided his county with a first championship victory since 2006.
And to think that this brilliant 21-year-old midfielder seemed certain to be lost, like Setanta Ó hAilpín before him, to Australian Rules just over a year ago. Even Leinster rugby inquired about developing such natural athleticism during the Michael Cheika-era. But Murphy just wants to play Gaelic football for his beloved red, yellow and green.
He’s heard all the jokes and despaired as decent footballers refused to believe Carlow could make a breakthrough.
“It was just us. There are boys who didn’t make themselves available that should be there. But those group of boys there today, they fought.
“The stick we get sometimes is cat. We went in today confident. I’d say it was one of the only times that a Carlow team thought we could do it. It went our way.”
There is much to report from this undulating affair but the climatic last 10 minutes are what will linger. Leading 0-13 to 0-10, Louth appeared to have quelled a brave revolt as Shane Lennon and Paddy Keenan came up with what seemed the match-winning plays.
That is until Murphy trumped everything that had gone before. Keenan and Brian Donnelly denied him complete dominance in the aerial stakes, but when he casually dropped over a sideline ball on 61 minutes a revival still seemed possible. There followed a dream-like sequence for Carlow people. Six minutes later Murphy’s second point brought matters back to the minimum, before a purely-struck Daniel St Ledger free, wide out on the left, levelled matters entering injury-time.
Louth, having forced a six-point swing from half-time to lead by three, suddenly looked spent.
There will be much debate about the dismissal of Louth corner back Dessie Finnegan, for a second yellow card on 33 minutes, and the impact of 13 yellow cards in a match that so rarely adopted any cynical form.
“I was in Wexford Park and it was the exact same,” said Louth manager Peter Fitzpatrick. “I don’t know what the directive is to referees but I don’t think there was a dirty tackle there. Maybe there’s a directive from Croke Park.
“But we’ve no one to blame but ourselves. We were three points up with 10 minutes to go. We had goal chances and missed them instead of taking our points.”
When it really mattered, Carlow won the messy individual duels for possession and Murphy continually demanded the football be delivered to his grasp – “That’s just the way it is when you are a footballer. You just want to get on the ball.”
When it came his way in the 73rd minute, he still needed to show composure as a few Louth men were ignoring the screams of their exhausted bodies. A skilful solo opened up a sight of the posts. From a good stretch out. Murphy nailed it.
But there is more. Afterwards, his manager, Luke Dempsey, confirmed he was playing on dodgy ankle ligaments having fallen awkwardly in a recent challenge game against Cavan. A soldier in the Army, he clearly doesn’t feel the pain of a mortal footballer.
Murphy’s was the performance of a champion, but he is surrounded by a group that were desperate to stop being perceived as the whipping boys of Leinster football. It is now over to Carlow’s well-travelled manager to provide a game plan that can out-smart an impressive-looking Wexford side, but Dempsey did confirm those who refused to put in the winter slog will not be welcomed back.
“We worked so, so hard with the 26 players that committed to Carlow. They are fantastic lads because we had a lot of issues during the year with players who would not commit to the county cause, which takes dedication and commitment . . . A volcano has erupted in Carlow now,” he added.
Stalling at the O’Moore Park tunnel, Murphy was asked where Carlow can go from here?
“Leinster semi-final against Wexford. Cup final again, really. We’ve nothing to lose. Forget about today. It is over.”
CARLOW: 1 T O’Reilly; 2 A Murphy, 3 C Lawlor, 4 B Kavanagh; 5 P Cashin, 6 S Redmond (capt), 7 K Nolan; 8 B Murphy (0-3, one side-line), 9 D Foley (0-2, frees); 10 P Hickey (0-1), 11 T Walsh, 12 E Finnegan (0-1); 13 B Murphy (0-2, one free), 14 S Gannon (0-1), 15 D St Ledger (0-4, three frees). Subs: P Murphy for B Kavanagh (53 mins), C Mullins for E Finnegan (58 mins), E Ruth for P Hickey (60 mins), J Murphy for D Foley (62 mins).
LOUTH: 1 S O’Connor; 2 D Byrne, 3 A Hoey, 4 D Finnegan; 5 R Finnegam, 6 M Fanning, 7 L Slevin; 8 P Keenan (0-2. capt), 9 B Donnelly (0-1, free); 10 D Crilly (0-1), 11 D Reid (0-1), 12 A Reid; 13 D McGuire (0-1), 14 S Lennon (0-6, four frees), 15 JP Rooney. Subs: A McDonnell for JP Rooney, R Carroll (0-1) for D Reid (both half-time), P Smith for A McDonnell (61 mins), S Fitzpatrick for D Crilly (70 mins).
Referee: D Fahy (Longford).
